Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. III — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
4 Sc. the Decans. 5 The Decans.
— holding together all, and keeping the good order of all things.
4. Tat. Thus do I have it, father, in my mind, from what thou say'st.
Her. Moreover, Tat, thou should'st have in thy mind that they are also free from the necessities laid on the other Stars.
They are not checked and settled in their course, nor are they [further] hindered and made to tread in their own steps again l ; nor are they kept away from 2 the Sun's light, — [all of] which things the other Stars endure.
But free, above them all, as though they were inerrant Guards and Overseers of the whole, they night and day surround the universe.
5. Tat. Do these, then, also, further exercise an influence 3 upon us ?
Her. The greatest, 0 [my] son. For if they act in4 them,5 how should they fail to act on us as well, — both on each one of us and generally ? 6
Thus, 0 [my] son, of all those things that happen generally, the bringing into action7 is from these 8 ; as for example, — and ponder what I say, — downfalls of kingdoms, states' rebellions, plagues [and] famines, tidal waves [and] quakings of the earth ; no one of these, 0 son, takes place without their action.1
1 Referring, presumably, to the fixed stars and the planets.
2 Reading forb for fob, — referring to eclipses.
3 Or energy. 4 Or energize.
6 That i«, the Seven Spheres.
8 The rest of the fragment is also found in Patrizzi (p. 38b). under the title " Of the Stars."
7 Or energy. 8 Sc. the Decans.
Nay, further still, bear this in mind. If they rule over them, and we are in our turn beneath the Seven, dost thou not think that some of their activity extends to us as well, — [who are] assuredly their sons, or [come into existence] by their means ?
6. Tat. What, [then,] may be the type2 of body that they have, 0 father [mine] ?
Her. The many call them daimones ; but they are not some special class of daimones, for they have not some other kind of bodies made of some special kind of matter, nor are they moved by means of soul, as we [are moved], but they are [simple] operations3 of these Six-and- thirty Gods.
Nay, further, still, have in thy mind, 0 Tat, their operations, — that they cast in the earth the seed of those whom [men] call TanSs, some playing the part of saviours, others being most destructive.4
1 Gf. G. H., xvi. 10.
2 rfaos. The question concerning the spiritual and other spaces and their inhabitants, "Of what type are they?" — occurs with great frequency in the Bruce and Askew Gnostic Codices.
3 Or energies.
4 8rt Kal ds T^V "yfjv ffvfpfiaT(^ovfftv &s Ka\ovfft rdvas, ras fifv <TWTIJpiovs, reks Se 6\t6pi(aTaTas. Neither Patrizzi nor Gaisford, nor Meineke, nor Wachsmuth, nor Me"nard, has a word to say on this most interesting passage. I would suggest in the first place that
7. Further the Stars l in heaven as well do in their several [courses] bear them 2 underworkers 3 ; and they 4 have ministers and warriors 5 too.
And they 6 in [everlasting] congress with them 7 speed on their course in aether floating, fullfilling [all] its 8 space, so that there is no space above empty of stars.
They are the cosmic engine of the universe,9 having their own peculiar action, which is subordinate, however, to the action of the Thirtysix, — from whom throughout [all] lands arise the deaths of [all] the other lives 10 with souls, and hosts of [lesser] lives that spoil the fruit.
8. Arid under them11 is what is called the the text is faulty, and that we should read " ovs Ka\ov<n Tdvas, Hfv ffwTTjpiovs, TOVS 5e bxiBpuaTiirovs" ; and in the second that TO.VO.S is a shortened form of Ttravas or Titans. Tdvas (? from Tap) is connected with mvads, " stretched out," from VT«"> just as TYrdi/ is connected with riratvu,— Tiraves thus signifying the Stretchers or Strivers. It may, however, also be connected with rtras (TITTJS) — from Tti/o>, and so mean Avengers. Cf. J. Laurent. Lydus, Dt Meusibus, iv. 31 (W. 90, 24), as given in note to P. S. A., xxviii. 1.
1 The planetary spheres, presumably.
2 Sc. the Decans.
3 viro\(iTOvpyovs — a aira£ \fy6/j.cvov. The term \tiTOvpyoi, how-
ever, is of frequent occurrence in the Askew and Bruce Codices.
See, for instance, Pistis Sophia (Schwartze's Trans.), p. 10:
" Atque 5«/cai/ot apxovrtav eorumque \firovpyot"
4 The Decans.